Otto von Habsburg

Otto von Habsburg (20 November 1912-4 July 2011) was the head of the House of Habsburg from 1 April 1922 to 1 January 2007 and the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 to 1919. The son of King Charles I of Austria, Otto would become the pretender to the thrones of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, and he also led the Austrian Resistance during World War II.

Biography
Otto von Habsburg was born on 20 November 1912 in Reichenau an der Rax, Austria-Hungary to the future Charles I of Austria and Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Otto was the third-in-line to the throne on his birth, and he became the crown prince when his father became king in 1916. Otto's father was overthrown in 1918 after the collapse of Austria-Hungary, but he never abdicated; when Charles died in exile in Madeira in 1922, Otto became the new head of the Habsburg family. Otto escaped from Austria during the Anschluss with Nazi Germany in 1938 due to the intervention of a diplomat from Portugal, fleeing to the United States. He spent much of his life around the world, and he was disgusted with nationalism, Nazism, and communism. In 1979, he was elected to the European Parliament as a representative of the Christian Democratic Union, remaining in this post until 1999. Otto was a strong supporter of the European Union, and he was one of the architects of European integration. He died at the age of 98 in 2011.